Blood Bath, A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy (The Maurin Kincaide Series Book 4) (9 page)

Aidan grabbed my hand and led me into the morgue
ahead of the others. "I thought you could use a friendly face tonight."

"It's a good thing I wanted to mend my friendship with Amalie or I might be a little pissed about you and Cash meddling like two old ladies." I gave him a little nudge in the ribs to let him know I was teasing but he seemed to be brooding over the fact that Cash had also made the effort to save an important relationship
in my life. "Let's get this over with."

Aidan nodded to Graive and she
stood next to the wall of steel drawers. Her fingers just barely grazed the surface, the temperature dropping as her power oozed out seeking the right body.

She stopped, palming the face of
a drawer before pulling it open. The track on the drawer clicked as it extended to expose the girl sealed in the body bag. There was no point checking the tag on the outside of the bag to confirm it matched the one on her toe, we knew this was the right girl. I reached for the zipper, expecting my hand to shake. My nerves held up as I undid the zipper and folded the top of the bag over.

T
his girl didn't even look like a corpse. There weren't the typical signs of trauma when homicide is suspected, just her slightly upturned slit wrists. Looked like the diener already weighed, washed and taken samples from her body for the coroner.

Her brown hair was
combed and tucked neatly beneath her head. Obviously, the medical examiner hadn't performed the autopsy yet. Lividity, a purple discoloration from blood in the body settling, was absent from her body. She had been completely drained. She looked more like a porcelain doll than a dead body.

Graive grabbed my wrist, avoiding the palm of my hand and reached for the girl. I thought she would take the girl’s hand but instead she placed her index and middle finger over the cut in her wrist like she was checking for a pulse. I was seriously hoping we weren't reanimating another corpse. The last time Graive did
, the zombie's head got blown off. That might be a little hard to explain to the ME.

There wasn't the tell
tale moaning and groaning of the waking dead. Instead a rush of images flooded my mind:

The girl at the movies with her friends, glancing to the shadow in the corner of the lobby.

Alone in the college library, checking behind bookcases where she was certain she had seen someone.

At a local sandwich shop, peering out the window at the street lamp to catch a glimpse of the person standing there.

I gasped in unison with the girl in my mind's eye as fangs pierced the sensitive skin on her inner thigh. Strong hands kneaded her flesh, careful not to bruise. Her back arched and I fought the urge to do the same. I clamped my jaw shut to prevent mimicking her moans of pleasure while feeding her vampire. Holy hell.

The teen
knew what he was and wasn't afraid. The pleasure switched abruptly to pain but not how I would have expected. The vamp walked away. The girl's crumpled expression, her arms folded as she tried to stop the sobs that racked her body.

I watched the vampire turn as if to give the girl a gli
mmer of hope, only to snuff it out forever as he moved away faster than her eyes could follow. She fell to the ground, utterly destroyed. Something moved in her peripheral. Was he back, had he changed his mind? Hope sprung eternal in the young girl's chest for the return of her vampire and the promise of immortality. She turned and let out a terrifying scream, which now poured from my mouth.

Graive let go of us, breaking the triangle of power. I swayed, exhausted from reading the dead girl. Graive on the other hand hadn't so much as broken a sweat. She channeled my abilities through the dead but the energy e
xpelled to make it work had come from me. Aidan wrapped an arm around my waist and I leaned into him. I heard Conry barking and knew we were out of time.

A voice came from outside the door.
"You're not with the paper. That was Ed Clancy, homicide reporter at the Times, on the phone and he's never heard your name. You can't go back there. I'm calling Detective Masarelli. Hey man, call off your dog." The technician was in a panic.

I glared at Aidan. "The paper? Really?"

"We needed to gain access to their files, or at least see what they knew and if any identifying marks had been found by the diener."

I gave a whistle for Conry -
he probably wouldn't listen to Cash's command to back-off if he thought the technician was a threat. "Aidan, do you're vampire Jedi mind trick and wipe this disaster of a reconnaissance mission from his mind. If you wanted to see the files I could have gotten them from Masarelli."

"Masarelli won't be getting a copy of the files."

I pointed Aidan toward the guy manning the morgue. "We'll talk about that later."

With the morgue attendant taken care of, we settled on going back to my apartment. All of us. Fun, right? Not. My apartment overflow
ed with head strong, powerful sups. The air was thick with magic and attitude. I opened the window behind the couch so I could breathe.

When we left the morgue I sent Amalie to raid the Daily Grind. I wished she'd hurry up because I seriously needed to feed my addiction and there wasn't enough coffee in my pantry to do it. Plus, I
wanted croissants. I needed protein after a reading like that but right now it was all about comfort.

I couldn't quite shake the sadness I felt from the girl. Maybe because it brought back feelings I had when Aidan said he was leaving
, outside the station. For a second I wondered if I had made the right decision to trust him.

As if sensing my thoughts, he looked at me. Something in my expression mu
st have given me away. He dropped his gaze but I caught the disappointment in his eyes. I refused to feel guilty for my wavering emotions. No, Aidan and I were definitely not out of the woods yet.

Cash caught the exchange. Thankfully Amalie hit the b
uzzer for the door just then. Cash helped her with what I declared essential items to solving our case, but I caught the look in his eye as he brushed past me.

"One thing's for certain," I said around a mouth full of croissant. "We know Caligula is involved, was involved with the girl."

"I thought you knew that before going to the morgue."

I glared at Graive as she mumbled something about it being a waste of her time. I may not have
been sure if Caligula killed these girls, but I knew for certain she was still a bitch. "Now we know he knew her and that the necklace wasn't a plant. It's enough to get us an audience with him."

"
We
aren't going to talk to him.
I
am."

Everyone backed out of the kitchen. Everyone but A
idan. He glowered, daring me to argue with him. "
You're
not going anywhere near him."

"Like hell I'm not. I. Am. Going. With. You. End of co
nversation." He obviously hadn't learned anything. Not that I should expect someone as old as him to change his ways in a couple days. Old dogs, new tricks and all that. Still his attempt to order me around kind of undermined his apology.

He grabbed my arm when I moved to storm out of the kitchen and gently shoved me in one of my chairs. He fired up my laptop. The anger and frustration in his eyes had me glued to my seat. His fingers flew across the keys ferociou
sly before he spun it around. Mercy Brown's face stared at me.

"Notice anything?" When I didn't answer, he bellowed
, "Look at her!"

The others started to creep back in the kitchen to see who I was supposed to be looking at. I heard the collective breath but refused to acknowledge what they thought they saw.

"I mean it's not identical or anything but the resemblance is there," Amalie whispered.  Realizing the fragility of my emotional state and our recent reconciliation, she quickly covered her mouth to prevent further outbursts.

More pictures flashed across the screen. A slide show of pictures he found online of the victims. All of them having some physical attribute in common with Mercy Brown. The slant of the eye, the curve of the mouth, bone structure but none of them had as many similarities in appearance as I did.

I knew where Aidan was going with this but I would not be deterred. He thought it put me in danger. I was convinced it would give me an edge. The fact they all looked a little like Mercy Brown was enough to have the Council charge him. I was going to make this vampire confess to murdering these girls and then watch him meet the sun.

"Maurin."

"Don't Maurin me. I'm going."

Amalie stepped up.
"Take Graive with you." If the elbow to the ribs Oberon gave her was any indication, she was going to regret that suggestion.

"That's not a bad idea actually," Cash said.

"No, it's a fantastic idea. Why hadn't I thought of it?" Cash lost the smug expression as Aidan went on a rant. "I'm sure he'll take one look a Maurin - the spitting image of his dead lover - with a necro and the vampire who took him before the council and invite us all in for a drink. From the vein most likely. He has slain more necros than any other vampire. Bringing Graive will only incite his hatred for me and stir his passion for a long lost love. It would be a bloody disaster. Literally."

"Hey, fuck off
, fanger. If you had killed him the first time five girls wouldn't be dead and Maurin wouldn't be at risk of being kidnapped by some sick fuck bloodsucker."

I moved between them before a fight broke out in my cramped kitchen. Nothing, not the cabinets, the fridge or my new gas stove would survive them. "You're assuming the worst will happen
, Aidan. Maybe we can use the fact I look so much like her to get him to talk."

"No, I won't risk it. He's stronger now than he was the first time I met him. If he is on a killing spree
, he will meet the sun but I won't give him the chance to use you as leverage."

"I can go without you." If he wouldn't listen to reason, I wasn't going to listen to anymore of his misogynistic bul
lshit. I backed away, pulling the veil around me.

Aidan felt the shift in my power and grabbed me before I disappear
ed. "Damn it, woman. I am only trying to keep you safe? Why won't you let me protect you?"

"Because you're idea of protecting me is locking me away in a tower."

"That's not a bad idea actually." Acutely aware of my blood pressure rising, he gave in before my head exploded. "You will wear my mark when we speak to him. This is not negotiable."

I heard of weres marking their mate but not vampires. Did fang marks really look that different? I guess if you can
be identified by dental records in life, you could be in undeath. I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about being marked. Again.

I still bore a demon's mark branded into my neck. The fact I was having any reservations probably meant I shouldn't do it.
Strings were definitely attached. Cash saw me warring with the decision and was about to object. I think he knew a little more about the commitment than I did and had reasons beyond my uncertainty for stopping it. I squared my shoulders and stepped forward before he could talk me out of it.

"Fine.  I'll wear your mark."

8

"I would be a liar if I said I hadn't thought about giving you my mark. This wasn't what I had in mind." Aidan paced the floor at the foot of my bed.

"I've never been big on flowers but I think I have a bo
ttle of wine if it makes you feel better."

We were alone for the first time in days. Everyone had gone home. There was nothing
to do until the next sunset - except for Aidan to mark me. I was on the bed, leaning back on my elbows, watching him wear a path in the carpet.

"You didn't even question the mark or what it means. You just agreed.
You only said yes because you want to challenge Caligula." Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair.

"You want me to wear your mark, I want to question Caligula. Isn't this a win
win?" My fingers were going numb so I sat up.

"Did it ever occur to you that I would want you to want to wear my mark?" He tugged at his hair again. "Christ, did that even make sense?"

"Okay, maybe you should explain this whole marking thing to me after all." I reached for him. "Aidan."

He stopped pacing and looked at me.
"Now you want to know what it means? Second thoughts? Good, because I don't want you anywhere near Caligula."

"I am not having second thoughts. I would like to know why you are freaking out."

"I do not freak out. I am the Cleaner, a highly trained and deadly assassin. I. Do. Not. Freak. Out."

I waved a hand, gesturing to his pacing and waited for his behavior to sink in. He was
so
freaking out.

"It means you are mine."